Aintree, Taunton Runners

It all kicks off today!  It is the first of three days of top class action from Aintree with the Grand National the highlight on Saturday.  In the meantime we have additional meetings from Taunton over jumps and Southwell and Chelmsford City on the all-weather.  David has two runners today with Eamon An Cnoic representing the team at Aintree and Eur Gone West running at Taunton.  Eur Gone West will be a short price in the 3m handicap hurdle at 3.10pm.  He bolted up at Exeter the weekend before last and is 7lbs ahead of the handicapper despite a 7lbs penalty.  A reproduction of that effort would make him difficult to beat under David Noonan.  Eamon An Cnoic (pictured above) contests the 2m handicap chase at 4.40pm and he is the likely favourite.  He ran a mighty race when a close fourth in the Brown Advisory Plate at the Cheltenham Festival over 2½ miles and the drop back in trip should help.  He has won on good ground, although the suspicion is that he prefers a bit of cut.  He has sound claims in a very competitive race with Tom Scu in the saddle.

With the Manifesto novices' chance taking place at Aintree today, we revisit a post we first published in 2009 about the remarkable Manifesto, dual winner of the big race in the late 1800’s.

Manifesto was a bay son of Man O’War who was born in 1888 and ran in eight Grand National’s during an illustrious career, an unequalled record that still stands to this day.  Not only did this ultra-tough performer win the big race on two occasions, he also produced some monumental efforts under welter weights.

Manifesto was given plenty of time and patience at the beginning of his career and this certainly paid dividends towards the end when he competed in his final Grand National in 1904 at the age of sixteen.  He won the first of his Grand Nationals in 1897, winning by no less than twenty lengths and he repeated the feat in 1899 under top weight of 12-7.  These were magnificent performances and his latter victory stands to this day as the joint biggest weight carried to victory.

The following year the handicapper unsurprisingly allotted him top weight but the burden of 12-13 was an enormous ask.  Nonetheless, Manifesto performed with his trademark courage and finished a gallant third, beaten only 4 lengths.  He missed the following year’s race owing to a setback which occurred when he escaped his box (his stable door was not correctly fastened) and he fell trying to jump over a five bar gate.  He was back in 1902 to finish third under Ernie Piggott (Lester’s grandfather) and another huge weight of 12-8.

In 1903 he again finished third (under 12-3) at the grand old age of 15 before making his final appearance in the race in 1904.  Unsurprisingly, at 16 years of age Manifesto was no longer the force of old but still managed to make it round in a gallant 6^th place.  His record has cemented his place as one of the finest Grand National horses of all time – two wins and four places from eight appearances in the race.

Manifesto’s skeleton (pictured above right) is on display at the University of Liverpool.

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With the Grand National meeting now upon us, how about a bit of Grand National trivia just for fun?  Answers will appear in tomorrow's column...

In what year did Charlotte Brew become the first woman to ride in the Grand National?

Where was the Grand National held in 1916, 1917 and 1918?

What was the appropriately named winner of the first Grand National in 1839 called?

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If you can go to Aintree on the second day, I would recommend it.  It is lady's day and there are always plenty of orange-tinged females walking about with the latest fashion...some of them are even wearing them!  As the afternoon goes on they get more and more drunk, noisier and more unsteady on their feet - it is great entertainment.

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I did buy a bit of money last night on the football by backing Spurs at 1/2 to beat Crystal Palace.

Talking of football, I think I would be inclined to sell Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea.  He is their best player but they could lose him for nothing this summer, or better still, pay him his £400,000 per week wages that he wants.  Meanwhile, I would sack the person who agreed to pay Alexis Sanchez £505,000 a week...how can they get it so wrong?

I bet snooker player Stuart Bingham is hoping that nobody else scores a maximum break of 147 at the China Open.  He gets a £27,000 bonus if no-one else achieves it this week.  No doubt he will be worried about Ronnie O'Sullivan who has record 15 maximums, far more than anyone else.

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What do you get when you cross a cat with a lemon?  A sour puss!

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